35.1 Songwood

General Summary

Day 520

We depart Deldrin in the late morning aboard a longboat that Trillium has acquired for us. We see Lyssa off at the pier, sending her to attend to Hand matters in the Valley of Storms. And then we are off on the current.  

Day 521

Our first days of travel are uneventful with Trillium and Vostilae managing the basics of the ship while Kaide manages the water and wind. On our second day out I receive a letter from Magdalena but it is just a crystal with Kaide's name attached. The illusion shows the deck of a tall ship surrounded by endless ocean and waves, occasionally accompanied by birds and dolphins in the distance. Kaide goes misty-eyed standing in the illusion for as long as she can before turning back to me.  

She didn't have to...

  And we have to talk about the growing possibility that Magdalena really does see Kaide as a different person from the Empress. Or as I believe, a second change to have a relationship with someone she knew and cared about. Regardless, it is something they will need to talk about when we all finally reconvene. It's not just the behaviour now that matters but why she has changed.   Travel continues over both water and land, with Liliales and Maedylvai helping me carry the boat as we trek along the shore when the rapids become impassable. We pass by a destroyed village that shows signs of having been inhabited after the winter, though abandoned now. I fear there may be many such settlements along the banks.   But as we approach the first tributary (by water) we find a seemingly thriving village surrounded by a moat. The homes are set low in the ground and we can see mostly humans but also many dwarves and trolls going about their business. The area is surrounded by rice and colourful crops. It is late enough in the afternoon that we put in to shore and find ourselves greeted by a human and a troll festooned with fishing gear who welcome us to Mudbank.   Tangir (the man) tells us that the people here are all 'kin' with no racial divides. It is a humble place but they are all safe and working together. We find ourselves in apparently the only building with room for travellers and are given two rooms and a hearty fish stew by Benny, the innkeeper.   As we dig into our food and take in the atmosphere of the communal room we are approached by a dark, tough-skinned troll with brilliant emerald eyes who introduces themself as Bark and joins us.  

Welcome, noble friends. The wind blows well the names of noble friends. They sing in my ears.

  They speak in such a curious, ritualistic way and I'm relieved when Kaide takes over the conversation with practiced responses, asking where Bark's roots are and from whence the wind blew them. They respond only that their roots are long lost and burning before asking if Kaide is "one of the old ones" with an edge to their voice. From this I can only assume that Bark is old enough to have lived in the trolls' ancestral home and is concerned at the appearance of an elf who speaks like she remembers those times. She reassures the elder troll that she has been asleep ever since those ancient times.   This is a place that Bark created by singing the grasses into shape. They are a tree speaker, which Kaide later tells us means that they speak for the trees and for trolls. They are a leader and likely brought all of the other trolls here.  

Noble friends, bring no axe to tree.

  When we reassure Bark that we bring no blades, only songs, they ask to hear pieces of our songs. After mine, they ask:  

Heiassa - peacemaker or conqueror?

  But I find there is really no category presented that fits. It is less the making of peace and more the making of the conditions of peace: Safety, security, trust, purpose. To this, Bark nods.  

Gardener. This one feels the power around you; have you bound elves and fae like dwarves?

  And it is Liliales who explains that this is not at all how we operate anymore, how our work is in bringing people together. After a while Bark nods slowly and tells us that they will think, and then they leave and the atmosphere at the table relaxes somewhat. Kaide notes that they were being very polite but that they will surely remember us. Apparently such detail is communicated in the ritual of word choice:

• If our names "sang amongst the leaves and grasses" then it would be a casual greeting and they do not intend to remember us.
• If they "sing in my hears" it is a sign that they will remember.
• If the names have "long sung in my hears" then it would mean they had heard of us before.

The address of "noble friend" recognizes the power we carry but maintains some level of formality. It's possible they sensed our magical strength, our cumulative ages, or even the presence of fae of day and night. Other phrases that struck me as meaningful point to a lack of original home and a lack of new home - having burned roots also means they have put down no new ones. Particularly for a troll as old as Bark it must take enormous force of will to persist without a Place to call home.   Cumulatively this makes it clear to me. Bark is the first troll I have met who might know what to do with the precious songwood seed I carry.  

Day 523

In daylight we see herds of oxen and other grazing animals being herded about and I can now sense faint magic all around, presumably from Bark singing to the grass to grow it further. We are making way towards our boat when they approach bearing a gift of an unusual wind instrument clearly designed for troll hands. It is a perfect opportunity. I offer them the seed, carefully wrapped and stored in my travelling dimensional container.   They are silent for a time before asking where I got it. It's a convoluted story - I explain that a human had given it to me in a ways...a troll friend had given him pens made from the wood of a special tree and when I sent my magic into the pen to examine the remnant of power left within it, it had produced a seed for me. I know only that it is cousin to the Eldritch and Grove trees and that I should not plant it near a Grove...and so I had intended to find it a home with someone who might be able to give it place.   Bark looks at me with unreadable eyes.  

It is awake. Many other songwood seeds are dead wood now. But this one is alive. Your magic did this?

  I can only imagine that my own expression is as open and readable as it ever has been. I nod, tears unexpectedly forming in my eyes. I woke it but surely it shouldn't belong to me, this seed treasured by trolls who would sing to it and guide its safe growth.   Bark takes me to another troll - Needle, who is slender and quite small (relatively speaking) with delicate orchid-coloured eyes. Needle is a song master and listens to Bark's instructions.  

Take no risks. Plant where it is, treasure it. Perhaps in time there will be other seeds.

  So all three of us plant the seed in a good place with healthy soil and water, sheltered from wind. Bark leads us through what must be ancient rites and patterns as Needle and I sing the seed awake. Before we set out on the river it has rooted and reached delicately skyward to become a soft sapling.